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Friday, 26 April 2013

Hi and welcome! One thing we have been devoid of, after our very wet summer, has been April showers. We have had some glorious sunshiny days, heralding our autumn. The last challenge at ABAC :April Showers http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ had me reflecting on the watery photos I had and how to display some of my favourites. In my previous life as a teacher, one way in which I displayed heaps of work/ information/ art was through the use of mobiles. These were often constructed from old hula hoops and hung from hooks in the ceiling, so... voila... this is what I came up with.
Two old wooden coat hangers covered with green bubble wrap formed the base for the mobile. These were then wrapped in a fluffy variegated wool (cloud like?), ready for decorating.

For the photos, I chose ones that fitted in with the theme, as well as representing the water cycle (somewhat) and some recreational past times. So we have stormy skies. rain pouring down, dams overflowing, waterfalls, babbling creeks, rivers, bays, water life (ducks, swans, dolphins) and boats.

To mou8nt the photos, I cut large water drop shapes from silver mirror board, smooshed alcohol inks on the back, mounted and cut photos to shape. The mirror board faces were then painted with 3D Stamping Paint, roughly applied to still show some of the silver. Some of this went on the edges of the photos, to tie them in.

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As well as the photo water drops, I also cut smaller ones from the mirror board and some from left over acetate packaging, again treated with the alcohol inks on one side and the 3D stamping paint on the other. These were hung on glittery blue metallic yarn.

I wanted the photos to move freely, and son came to the rescue... brass snap swivels used for fishing! Perfect!

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To complete the mobile I added some strips of bubble wrap, lengths of sequins, metallic ricrac braid, metallic ribbon and a few more pieces of the metallic yarn.

I hung the mobile in a tree in my front garden to take the photos... trying to get the idea of movement and to capture the sparkle.

This is the artwork of Australian Indigenous Artist, Trevor Nickolls and his piece 'Warmun Mandala'.

With these vibrant colours, I immediately thought 'Aussie outback'..... but, no outback pictures. Then I found the perfect sunset photos, combined with an outback inspired theme and came up with this... a reverse canvas.

Gesso was painted on the canvas and frame prior to painting. For the background I've used strips of mulberry paper, cardstock and a piece made on a gelli pad. The gelli pad printing is just how it appeared after a second pressing. I loved the way this turned out, with the suggestion of grasses and rocks in the foreground. The frame was also painted with acrylics in the same tones with the addition of Opals embossing enamels and stamping with archival ink and 3D Stamp paint (chocolate and copper).

The photos of sunsets taken from my home, were matted on a stamped background (Darkroom Door Background Stamp 'Marbling'). The gum nuts are real, and were given a light touch of 3D Texture Paint.

The tree was drawn and cut from cardboard from a cereal box, embossed with a Craft Concepts 'Secret Garden' folder and inked with Black Soot and Bundled Sage Distress Inks. The background was stamped using the same mediums as the frame.

Fibrous wool has been added to give a grassy effect. The chipboard grass segment on the frame was finished with opals.

The log in the foreground was made from a dried lotus leaf. Flowers and leaves were also made from a gelli pad experiment using acrylics, Lumiere Metallics and spritzes of glimmer mist. One section of the cardstock was stamped (Darkroom Door Carved Flowers) and cut out. The other section was cut using T.H. Tattered Garland die. Brown flowers were die cut from glassine paper, spritzed with glimmer mist, scrunched and then heat dried. Inca gold, brads and seed beads completed the flowers. I really enjoyed this challenge and had great fun designing for it. I hope you find it inspirational.

I must thank the ARTastic team for giving me the opportunity to show my work. Please make sure you pop over to the ARTastic blog to see what the fabulous design team has come up with and to also see the entries that have been submitted. You still have the time to enter if you feel inspired to do so.

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments. They are truly appreciated.

Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Hi! and welcome! Just a short post today. I really love the way plain (or patterned) cardstock / papers can be changed to make them unique by simply adding different mediums to them. Playing with stencils has changed a plain background into something quite different to fit with the photo I've used for my layout. The medium, Viva Precious Metal was brushed on and when dry, Inca Gold (pink and pale gold) was lightly applied in sections.

The photo didn't call for any embellishments. It was matted onto black cardtock, two edges were punched (Martha Stewart trellis punch) chipboard letters for the title were painted in brown acrylic paint and then glazed with Extreme Glitter (hologram). The page was completed by streaking with some random lines of Kindyglitz to represent wisps of clouds.

This photo is one of many I take of sunsets near my home.This one was quite unusual with its two distinct bands of colour and the paling blue sky betwixt.
"A picture is worth a thousand words" springs to mind.

I'm entering this in the ABAC Challenge 16:Inspired by. http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/
Have a look at what other artists and the design team have created.
With me, a great deal of my inspiration comes from nature.
Thank you for stopping by. Thank you also for supportive comments. They are always appreciated. Cheers, Di